Monday, November 5, 2012

Witches, Terrorists, & Rebels

“From 1100 [CE] on, however,
indistinct and often idiosyncratic strains of belief were
systematized into a coherent and generally uniform system of
theological and juridical dogma, the logical implications of which
were the obligation of the Church and the secular courts actively to
seek out and extirpate the witches and their defenders... Two
phenomena whose causal interaction with other social and intellectual
conditions constitutes one of the great problems of European history
become increasingly clear after 1100: the growing codification of
witch beliefs centering on the universal malevolence and diabolism of
the witches, and the growing awareness of the active and horrific
dangers presented by the ever-increasing number of witches at large.

Before 1100, ecclesiastics and
theologians were often skeptical of popular beliefs concerning
witches and their magical powers. The church, after all, had disarmed
the last bastion of paganism by convincing men that belief in the
Christian god protected everyone from the inept assaults of pagan
demons. As the intellectual synthesis of witch beliefs progressed,
however, it was precisely the ecclesiastics and theologians and other
educated men who were to shape and channel popular opinion. As
awareness of the theological and juridical ramifications of the
reality of witchcraft spread, so did men's perception of the nature
of the witches' activity; as the latter grew, so did the demand for
theological and juristic clarification and response. From 1100 on,
one can observe (and sometimes even date rather precisely) the
appearance of certain common elements which both learned and popular
opinion were to consider universally characteristic of witchcraft,
and one can follow also the emerging realization that something new
and dreadful in the history of Christendom had appeared... At the
height of these fears, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
men speculated on when and why the concerted and terrible assaults of
the witches had begun. Some dated the crisis from the later
fourteenth century, some from around 1500. Protestants later accused
the Catholic clergy of fostering witchcraft through “popish
blasphemies,” and Catholics in turn proceeded to identify
witchcraft first with traditional and recognized heresy and later
with Protestantism itself. Almost all agreed, however, that intensive
witchcraft was essentially a new danger and a particularly urgent
one.”

It is the fifth of November, a rather
auspicious day to write – I think – about religious terrorism,
splintering beliefs, and the responses of the populous and those
caught up in waves of frenzy. It is also a fitting day to put down a
few words on the witch trials, and the rather seriously explosive series of
social and religious furor that set the stage for them.

I am of the opinion that there is a
problem with the way many neo-Pagans in America and Europe discuss
the witch trials, and how they came about. The problem is this: many
of them, including certain authors celebrated by the neo-Pagan
movement as a whole, appear to be incapable of reading texts on
history and critically evaluating the material they see. This may be
because reading allows for easy suspension of disbelief, or it may
simply be because certain aspects of the witch-trials that are
downright ahistorical are
repeated ad nauseam
and warp the situation that appears – at least from the historical
data we have at present – to have progressed to its utmost furor
and horror.

A lot
of readers may see what I'm about to say and think that I'm devaluing
religious witchcraft, or claiming it has no place in history. That is
not what I'm getting to. I am, like so many others, an initiate in a
tradition of European (British, specifically) witchcraft and a
religious devotee. This means that while I take a very
history-friendly narrative to the subject, I still believe that for
myself and others the religious aspects of witchery are extremely
important and that we do, in fact, have a history stretching backward
in time considerably. This does not make witchery “the oldest
religion on the planet,” nor do the witch-trials have anything to
do with it aside from the prospect of scape-goating problems on a
relatively “new” category of “malefic” individuals: witches.

Concern
over individuals with malefic powers and their attendant demons, not
to mention their ability to affect the world, is a rather ancient
subject matter. Almost all cultures seem to have them, however the
juridical (secular) and religious concern of them did not reach the
point of widespread emergence until around 1100/1200, as Kors and
Peters indicate in their wonderful book. Prior to that the juridical
views were often deeply skeptical, and even the religious authorities
took a dim view of enticing the populous to take action against such
problems. In the Dead
Man's Hand: Part Three, I made sure to discuss it a bit. Around
906 CE, the (Catholic) Church adopted the Canon Episcopi as it's
major point of reference. Despite quoting it in the earlier entry, I
will do so again:

“Bishops
and their officials must labor with all their strength to uproot
thoroughly from their parishes the pernicious art of sorcery and
malefice invented by the devil, and if they find a man or woman
follower of this wickedness to eject them foully disgraced from the
parishes... It is also not to be omitted that some unconstrained
women, perverted by Satan, seduced by illusions and phantasms of
demons, believe and openly profess that, in the dead of night, they
ride upon certain beasts with the pagan goddess Diana, with a
countless horde of women, and in the silence of the dead of the night
to fly over vast tracts of country, and to obey her commands as their
mistress, and to be summoned to her service on other nights. But it
were well if they alone perished in their infidelity and did not draw
so many others into the pit of their faithlessness. For an
innumerable multitude, deceived by this false opinion, believe this
to be true and, so believing, wander from the right faith and relapse
into pagan errors when they think that there is any divinity or power
except the one God. Wherefore the priests throughout their churches
should preach with all insistence to the people that they may know
this to be in every way false, and that such phantasms are sent by
the devil who deludes them in dreams...
Whoever therefore believes that anything can be made, or that any
creature can be changed to better or worse, or transformed into
another species or likeness, except by God Himself who made
everything and through whom all things were made, is beyond a doubt
an infidel.”

In
this view, the aberrant experiences of so-called “witches” and
still lingering heathens was dismissed as nothing more than delusion,
and they were simply to be cut off from their respective religious
bodies. Insofar as we are concerned, this is a particularly
non-offensive and possibly the best perspective we can ask for.
Witches end up being neither scape-goats for terror, nor being burned
at the stake. Unfortunately, this perspective did not last.

Between
1100 CE and 1500 CE waves of necromancers began infesting the
Catholic Church. This was the beginning of the Grimoire boom, and in
certain cases the practitioners were assuredly malefic. They were
also, despite what one might expect, often trained clergy. The
Inquisition was established in the late 1100 through early 1200s [the Papal Inquisition, specifically, which was also empowered to torture certain subjects. Edited for clarity. Jack.] to deal with the threat of
the Cathars and their antagonism towards traditional Catholic
hierarchy, structure, and the threat they posed when the populace of
France adopted elements of their religious praxis. Following the
emergence of Necromancy within the church, these tensions were
heightened considerably. Michael D. Bailey's From Sorcery
to Witchcraft charts this
emergence, and the turns it took, in a highly specific manner that is
of interest to anyone involved in witch practices today.

While
witchcraft was earlier shoved off as nothing more than delusion,
these new elements meant that the word itself changed shape and
entered the popular lexicon from the learned elite. From there the
same term was used to extend over a large body of magical practices,
high-lighted in the Malleus
Malificarum with the shape and belief of what they meant being
changed as well. This formal codification from elite authorities on
religion and secular juridical created the basis for the witch furor,
but took centuries to foment. Bailey explains:

“Yet during the years of the great
European witch-hunts, the term malefica carried a far more
specific and far more sinister meaning than just a person accused of
working harmful sorcery against others. Witches were certainly
believed to perform magic with the aid of demons, indeed via the
supplication and worship of demons. But worse even than that, they
were accused of complete apostasy, of rejecting their faith and
surrendering their souls to Satan himself in exchange for their dark
powers. They were thus thought to be members of an organized cult
headed by the Prince of Darkness and standing in opposition to God's
church on earth. At regular nocturnal gatherings known as sabbaths,
they would assemble in the presence of their demonic master, worship
him, and, in exchange for his promise of magical power, forswear
Christ, the church, and the entire Christian faith. They would also
murder and devour babies, engage in sexual orgies, and perform other
sinful and abominable rites.”

No
longer was malefica
simply cursing, hexing, or harming another. Now it was contingent on
alliance with the powers of Darkness, and the view that the Devil was
acting as a Field Marshall to a great and vast army of followers...
Who were witches. This view allowed the older cultic and religious
aspects of Indo-European spirituality that we consider “witchcraft”
today to be effectively re-branded in a way that we can see surviving
even now. The Sabbat,
which has its roots in the Wild Hunt and Revels of Old, was
reformated into a Christian context. Ironically, it was often not the
cults and practices of outsiders that drew the ire of the Church (for
plenty seem to have been wise enough to keep their heads down), but
rather the Protestant/Catholic conflict that excited the Witch Hunts.

In
January, 1518, Martin
Luther (my
ancient enemy) kicked off
the Protestant reformation and enabled a series of conflicts that
ripped through the very fabric of Christendom, shattering
the church into a number of divergent bodies. Alongside popular
rebellions, famine, and the internecine strife amongst Christians,
the stage was set for the persecution of witches! Unfortunately, they
rarely actually were witches. In Protestant areas, the Protestants
turned on Catholics. In Catholic areas, the Protestants were branded
as witches.

And
Europe, as a whole, lost what little glory had been left to the
Church until that time.

But
let us take a moment to look at the sects outside the Inquisition
involved in this 600 year period of struggles (from heretical
outsiders usurping the Churches' authority in the 1160s – 1180s to
the later sects):

The
Anabaptists were formed around 1521 – 1524. They had important
precursors, but let us skip that for the time being. The Anabaptists
were largely important for their role in the Great
Peasant Revolt in Germany and Switzerland. They helped foment
uprising against Church and State, hoping that total war
against religious and secular authorities with the hope of creating a
truly Christian utopia. They did not actually number greatly in the
Revolt, but their ideals helped inspire it. The Anabaptists acted,
often, as terrorist cells and burned a number of churches... As well
as writing a number of threatening letters and books aimed at both
the Lutherans (who, following the late Luther's lead, became
increasingly antisemitic) and the Catholic Church.

I
sometimes find myself rather liking them, even if they were largely
composed of over-zealous fanatics and the occasionally criminally
insane. Today we'd probably declare war on Germany if they returned.

The Mennonites were formed following
the failure
of the Anabaptists to achieve their goal. Unlike the earlier
encountered group, they taught a largely peace-based theology that
focused on the Ministry of Christ and spreading the Message of Jesus
Christ. They found the basis of their teachings in Menno
Simons. Today they form one of the larger bodies of Christian
believers in the world, and are on par with the Mormons, Baptist
sects, and other groups.

In England, the Anglicans
increasingly dominated discourse and the Church of England's
progressive anti-Catholic stance eventually lead to the rebellions
such as those by Guy Fawkes and the other members of the Gun-powder
treason and plot.

The combination of these sects and
their conflicts lead to growing awareness of the social and spiritual
problems of the 15th – 17th centuries and
ensured that the witch trials would reach their full furor... With
brother turning against brother, and everyone scape-goating the
conflicts on the Devil and witches.

The end result is the Christendom of
today, with it's sectarian conflicts and flare-ups and an ever present
fear of witches' everywhere. Let us be on our guard. Because the
scary cycles of the past have this tendency to repeat themselves when
we fail to look for them.

2 comments:

Martin Luther's language could get extreme, to say the least. Here's a random papal insult of his I found with a Google of "Martin Luther ass":

“Oh, dearest little ass-pope...don’t dance around...For the ice is...solidly frozen this year...you might fall...If a fart should escape you while you were falling, the whole world would laugh at you and say...’How the ass-pope has befouled himself.’”

Personally, I doubt Martin Luther's sanity. At the very least he had "issues" with ass and with feces. Despicable man, altogether...

You know, I admire how ballsy Martin Luther was. I still dislike him intensely for reasons I covered in my "Fortunes of Faust" entry. And I'm not particularly fond of Antisemitism, for that matter. In fact, I rather hate antisemites. To quote Nietzsche's last letter to his sister:

In the meantime I've seen proof, black on white, that Herr Dr. Förster has not yet severed his connection with the anti-Semitic movement. [...] Since then I've had difficulty coming up with any of the tenderness and protectiveness I've so long felt toward you. The separation between us is thereby decided in really the most absurd way. Have you grasped nothing of the reason why I am in the world? [...] Now it has gone so far that I have to defend myself hand and foot against people who confuse me with these anti-Semitic canaille; after my own sister, my former sister, and after Widemann more recently have given the impetus to this most dire of all confusions. After I read the name Zarathustra in the anti-Semitic Correspondence my forbearance came to an end. I am now in a position of emergency defense against your spouse's Party. These accursed anti-Semite deformities shall not sully my ideal!!